


Blood Is Thicker

by semele



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 14:44:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3138125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semele/pseuds/semele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“He just showed up on my doorstep a few hours ago, then passed out, and when he came around again, he dangled You-Know-Who's Horcrux in front of my eyes, and asked how to destroy it.” An AU in which Regulus Black doesn't die stealing the Horcrux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Is Thicker

**Author's Note:**

> Truth is, I'm mostly writing this fic for me. I have my ten-year anniversary of fic writing this year, and I wasn't planning on celebrating it, really. But a few days ago, one of my friends started talking about Harry Potter, and she accidentally dragged me back into my old sandbox. Harry Potter was my first fandom, and the first piece of fiction I ever wrote was that Harry Potter fanfic ten years ago, but it's been a while since I ventured into this fandom as a writer. Returning made me realize just how much I love it – but also how much I learned in those ten years. This fic is pure self-indulgence: set in my favorite time frame, featuring my favorite characters, using my favorite themes. I'll write it when I have time, which means I'll probably be writing it for quite a while. Also, I am by now choking on my own fuzzy feelings. You have been warned.

_**I looked in the mirror, but something was wrong**  
I saw you behind, but my reflection was gone  
There was smoke in the fireplace as white as the snow  
A voice beckoned gently "now it's time to go"  
A requiem played, as you begged for forgiveness  
"Don't touch me!" I screamed  
I've got unfinished business _

White Lies, _Unfinished Business_

Regulus wakes up on a couch he doesn't recognize, in a room he's never seen before, even though it's eerily familiar, and he is so nauseous he forgets to be surprised that he's still alive.

Somewhere in the background, he vaguely registers Kreacher cowering in the corner, and his first impulse is to reach out to him, but before he can get his head to stop spinning, something pushes his shoulder, and forces him to lie down again.

“If you vomit on the rug again,” says Sirius peevishly, “I'll fucking kill you.”

It sounds horrible, like a rehearsed line from something Muggle that Regulus can't possibly imagine, and the mild exasperation he immediately feels is so familiar he wants to look down on his brother, then tell him, in an overly prim tone of voice, to behave and mind his tongue. He stops himself at the last moment though, because there is an obvious bloodstain on his sleeve, his hair is still damp from filthy water, and the room smells like someone really _has_ vomited on the rug in a very recent past.

“Kreacher?” he manages weakly. His throat is surprisingly sore, and Regulus vaguely remembers screaming.

“He dragged you here three hours ago. You were half-dead. Care to explain?”

Regulus looks around.

“You live here?” he asks, and here it comes, just a slight note of bewilderment and judgement he probably should've kept under the lid. On the other hand, Sirius probably would've heard it anyway.

“If you don't like the décor, you're welcome to fuck off. Answer the question.”

There are about fifteen ways in which he could respond, and each and every one is completely wrong; too hostile, too needy, or flat out unbelievable. Regulus himself isn't sure why Kreacher brought him here – there was a cave, a lake, and a chalice, but his memories are full of real and imagined horrors he can't tell apart, and to say he's fuzzy on details is a gross understatement. He must've said something about Sirius, or else Kreacher would've left him on the tiny island just like he'd ordered him to. He'll have to figure this out later.

Sirius is still looking at him expectantly, and there really is no good way of explaining the situation, so Regulus takes a deep breath, then gestures Kreacher to come closer, and gently pulls the heavy silver medallion out of the elf's shaking hands. 

“This is a piece of the Dark Lord's soul,” he says conversationally, holding it by the chain with just the tips of his fingers. “I've been wondering if you had any idea how to get rid of it.”

***

Sirius shows up at their place at around five in the morning, which, even for him, is a new low. Jim, being Jim, rushes out of bed like a good soldier, and in all honesty, it serves him right for having some terrible taste in friends.

Alright, maybe they aren't as bad as she makes them sound, but Lily isn't exactly in a generous mood today, five o'clock or not. She feels petty, and pregnant, and petty, and Sirius isn't her favorite person even when she doesn't need to sleep for fourteen hours a day to be reasonably functional.

Predictably, she doesn't take it too kindly when Jim returns to her a few minutes later, and asks her to join them.

“No way,” she mutters from under her pillow. “It's five. Nothing is _that_ important. Tell Sirius to get a life.”

“I think it's about his brother. It sounds important.”

“Five-o-clock kind of important?”

“Looks like it. Come on, I left Sirius in the kitchen making coffee,” says Jim with what he probably thinks is a cunning smile. “You can have coffee.”

“I'm at least seventeen months pregnant. I can't have coffee.”

“Then come to make sure he doesn't set the kitchen on fire.”

It still takes Lily a few minutes to grudgingly get herself out of bed, and when she finally makes her way to the kitchen, Jim and Sirius are already halfway through their coffee. Apparently at least one of them wants to bribe her, because there is also a big mug of tea on the counter.

“Morning,” says Sirius as soon as he sees her emerge from the bedroom. “Listen, sorry about all this, but it was...”

“What happened to Regulus?” she interrupts as she settles on a chair next to Jim's.

“Nothing exactly _happened_ to him. He just showed up on my doorstep a few hours ago, then passed out, and when he came around again, he dangled You-Know-Who's Horcrux in front of my eyes, and asked how to destroy it.”

“Dangled what?” asks Jim with a frown.

“You heard right. A Horcrux.”

There is a highly uncomfortable moment of silence, and Lily manages to shake off enough of her drowsy stupor to realize that Jim is just as clueless as she is. Sirius clearly mistook their confusion for bewilderment, and decided to give them a minute of dramatic pause so that they could fully appreciate the excellence of his delivery, but soon even he notices that they're dumbstruck rather than shocked.

“Come on, guys,” he says helplessly. “A Horcrux. You have to know what that is. Prongs?”

He probably doesn't mean anything bad by this. Jim is his friend, his oldest, most beloved friend, Lily tells herself, so it's only natural that Sirius automatically turns to him.

It still makes her see red.

“Either you're telling us what happened,” she barks, “or I'm going back to bed, and you two can play charades until dawn. Drop the attitude.”

Sirius shoots her a dirty look, but he does finally get to the point, and he's concise enough that by the time he's done explaining, Lily actually pours him some more coffee.

“Have you Patronused Dumbledore?” she asks when he falls silent.

“Of course I have. I'm not dumb. Dumbledore wants me to bring Reg to Hogwarts first thing, can't think why. It's not like we need Reg to smash the damned thing, but whatever. I'm here to borrow James' cloak for him.”

“Have you slept at all?” asks Jim as he gets up heavily, and heads towards the bedroom wardrobe. Sirius shrugs.

“I'll sleep when I'm dead,” he replies flippantly. “Thanks, Prongs. And, again, sorry for waking you two.”

“Do you want us to come with you?”

Another shrug.

“Dumbledore would flip. He told me to keep this a secret,” says Sirius with a ghost of a grin. “Sure, come along.”

***

By the time Sirius returns from the Potters, Regulus manages to talk Kreacher down enough to send him back home, and even to catch a bit of sleep on his brother's highly uncomfortable couch. It's no more than a nap, not nearly as much as he needs, but when Sirius shakes him awake, and tells him to get ready, he feels strangely rejuvenated. 

The panic doesn't really kick in until they get to Hogwarts.

Regulus never had a grand plan, or any plan, for that matter. He was going to keep things simple, take his revenge and die for it, nice and easy, except he lost his nerve. As a result, he's now power-walking to Dumbledore's office with Sirius' merry band of misfits like a band of knights fucking errant, and it's all he can do to not start laughing hysterically. Truth is, there is no reason for him to be here, not unless Dumbledore is plotting something, and he doesn't trust the scheming old bugger as far as he can throw him.

On top of that, it took him less than twelve hours to start talking like his brother.

“No way,” he says as they reach the gargoyle. “I'm not doing this. You're the worst conspirators in the world, and I have no clue what you're planning, but you'll get me killed.”

That's when Sirius proves his point by ripping the invisibility cloak off of him in plain view. He clearly wants to do more; make a dramatic gesture, or maybe just take a swing, but Potter grabs his shoulder, and to Regulus' surprise Sirius obeys after only a moment of hesitation. He tosses the cloak into Evans' empty hands, barks the password, then steps onto the stone staircase with such a force Regulus could swear he hears stones crack.

“Coward,” says Sirius clearly, and to Regulus' credit, he doesn't pretend he hasn't heard.


End file.
